AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) Conference
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My aim is to give a brief account of a new research on textual comparisons between Dante and Peter of John Olivi, particularly between the Commedia and the Lectura super Apocalipsim. The research has been published on the websitewww.danteolivi.com |
1. Dante’s “sacred poem” as a book of the Holy Bible
il poema sacro / al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terrathe sacred poem / to which both heaven and earth have set their hand.
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2. The Commedia is a modern Apocalypse.
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3. The Spiritual Franciscans
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4. The Spiritual’s book-emblem.
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5. Eschatology in the Lectura super Apocalipsim
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6. The Lectura super Apocalipsim in Italy
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7. The relationship between the texts is technical
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I. Groups of words in the Lectura are found in similar clusters placed freely in the Commedia as if they are threads taken from one warp and twisted with others in order to weave a new cloth. The use of identical terms in Latin and in the vernacular within a limited amount of text is too frequent to be a mere coincidence. These are not isolated words as they are placed in groups in a way that is neither commonplace nor expected. They are actually keywords. |
II. An identical passage in the Lectura leads to several passages in the Commedia through the presence of the same group of words. This means that the exegesis of a passage in the Apocalypse was used at different stages during the composition of the poem.Examples : Rev. 7:3-4; Rev. 6:8 |
III. As suggested by Olivi in the Prologue, several passages of the Lectura may be collated through keywords, according to an analogical procedure typical of the distinctiones used by preachers.Examples : Rev. 17:1 |
8. Meaning of the relationship between the texts.The art of memory.
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9. The periods (status) of the history of the Church
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10. The Spiritual Topography of the Commedia
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11. Dante used Olivi’s text, which he updated.
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12. Dantesque Prophetism.
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13. All of Dante’s sources in the Commedia
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14. Dante between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
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15. CONCLUSIONS
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[All quotations from the Lectura super Apocalipsim in the essays or articles published in this website have been drawn from the transcription, with notes and indexes, of ms. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 713, which has been available therein since 2009. The Biblical passages to which the exegesis refers are in Roman type in “ ”; for sources please refer to the online edition. The critical edition by W. LEWIS (Franciscan Institute Publications, St. Bonaventure – New York, 2015) has not been considered due to the issues it poses, which are discussed in A. FORNI – P. VIAN, A proposito dell’edizione di Warren Lewis della Lectura super Apocalipsim di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi. Alcune osservazioni, “Archivum Franciscanum Historicum” 109 (2016), pp. 99-161.
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Rev. 7:3-4
By unshamefully and magnanimously signing their foreheads, the angel of the sixth seal removes an impediment for the elect friends of God, the faith in whom they shall defend to the point of martyrdom. They, who He knew by name, are enrolled in the highest army of barons, decurions and knights which is distinguished from the vulgar infantry. This exegesis, in which the sixth period corresponds to the last six years of the building of the Temple following captivity in Babylon, is a sacred military symphony the themes of which flow through several passages: from the poetic signatio of Dante – friend of Beatrice – who is “sesto tra cotanto senno” in the group of the great poets in Limbo, to the apostolic signatio during the examination on the three theological virtues in the presence of Saints Peter, James and John; from Francesca and Paolo’s impossible friendship with God (who were both in a schiera) to the Florentine families mentioned by Cacciaguida, who bear “la bella insegna” of Ugo marquis of Tuscany, and were enrolled in a higher ranking army than Giano della Bella, the author of the famous Ordinances of Justice (1293) who too is decorated (“colui che la fascia col fregio”), though now takes sides with the populace, which corresponds to the vulgar infantry below the signed. Those who were elected ‘sixth’ and loved by God are the sacred evolution of those (De vulgari eloquentia, II, iv, 10-11) who, in the sixth book of the Aeneid, Virgil calls “Dei dilectos”, the tragic poets whose ardent virtues are raised to the heavens (Aen., VI, 129-131: “Pauci, quos aequus amavit / Iuppiter”), designated by the “astripeta aquila”. Perhaps reading the exegesis of the angel of the sixth seal (which goes well beyond the part concerning the signatio) influenced Dante’s decision to make the journey, attributing all the styles of poetry to a heavenly army? Read more (in Italian).
(I)
(II)
[Ap 7, 3] Clamat ergo (Ap 7, 3): “Nolite”, id est non audeatis; vel si ad bonos angelos loquitur, dicit “nolite” quia, ex quo ipse prohibuit, non debuerunt velle; “nocere”, scilicet per effrenatam temptationem vel per predicationis et gratie impeditionem, “terre et mari neque arboribus, quoadusque signemus servos Dei nostri in frontibus eorum”.
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Purg. XXIII, 70-75; XXIV, 10-12, 16-18, 25-33, 94-99:E non pur una volta, questo spazzo
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Purg. XXIX, 151-154; XXXII, 16-24:E quando il carro a me fu a rimpetto,
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[Ap 7, 3] Ex predictis autem patent alique rationes quare ante temporale exterminium nove Babilonis sit veritas evangelice vite a reprobis sollempniter impugnanda et condempnanda, et e contra a spiritalibus suscitandis ferventius defendenda et observanda et attentius et clarius intelligenda et predicanda, ut merito ibi sit quoddam sollempne initium sexte apertionis. Quamvis autem a pluribus fide dignis audiverim sanctum patrem nostrum Franciscum hanc temptationem pluries predixisse, et etiam quod per eius status professores esset malignius et principalius exercenda, nichilominus quasdam rationes breviter subinsinuo. […] Tertio ut spiritus in viris evangelicis tepefactus et quasi extinctus seu consopitus suscitetur et fortissime accendatur, et per hoc disponantur et etiam promereantur ad potenter sustinendum et triumphaliter devincendum subsequentem temptationem sub magno Antichristo venturam. Quarto quia expedit veritatem evangelice vite et regule per concertationem validam prius clarificari et exaltari ante magni Antichristi adventum, quia aliter non posset sibi triumphaliter resistere nec esset dare tunc plures perfectos Christi milites ab ipso martirizandos. |
(III)
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Rev. 6:8
The she-wolf – a thin, hungry, redoubtable and murderous creature that dominated many people – has the same characteristics as the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision (Dan. 7:7), interpreted as the Saracen beast or the pale horse, mortified by hypocrisy, that appears upon the opening of the fourth seal (Rev. 6:8). Noteworthy is that Dante assigned to the Christians whatever had been provocatively attributed to the Jews, the pagans or Islam in the exegesis.
The beast is given power “over the four parts of the earth”, which it exercises with a sword, famine, death and other beasts. These four instruments literally mean four ways of defeating the enemies who are killed in battle or starved during sieges of the towns that were subsequently deserted and devastated by wild beasts. A sword also means the terror that this beast, which has occupied many lands, strikes in the heart and body with its military power. Famine denotes the absence of Christ’s restorative verb. Death indicates Mohammed’s law that leads to death. The ‘beasts’ keep company with beastly people. The sight of the skinny she-wolf (which, unlike the other wild animals, is called “bestia” Inf. I, 58, 88, 94), that “molte genti fé già viver grame”, strikes fear and “fa tremar le vene e i polsi” (ibid. 49-54, 88-90); when she has fed is hungrier than before (ibid. 97-99); she could even kill anyone that tries to cross her path (ibid. 94-96). When Beatrice descends into Limbo to meet Virgil, she affirms that Dante “ne la diserta piaggia è impedito / sì nel cammin, che vòlt’ è per paura” (Inf. II, 61-63); Lucia had said to her: “non vedi tu la morte che ’l combatte / su la fiumana ove ’l mar non ha vanto?” (ibid. 107-108). The river that may not be defeated by the sea corresponds to the Saracen beast in Olivi’s exegesis of Rev. 6, 3.8 that would not accept the Scripture nor listen to rational arguments and lasts until the Antichrist, unlike the Jewish, the pagans and heretics who fought against Christianity for some time and subsequently disappeared. Read more (in Italian).
[Ap 6, 8; IIa visio, apertio IVi sigilli] “Et ecce equus pallidus”, id est, secundum Ricardum, ypocritarum cetus per nimiam carnis macerationem pallidus et moribundus. “Et qui sedebat super eum”, scilicet diabolus, qui per pravam intentionem ypocritarum sedet in eis et per eos malitiam suam exercet, “nomen illi mors”. Hoc enim nomen bene diabolo convenit, quia per eum mors incepit et alios ad mortem trahere non cessat. “Et infernus”, id est omnes in inferno dampnandi, “sequeb[atur] eum”, quia omnes tales eum imitantur. […]
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Inf. I, 49-54, 88-90, 94-99; II, 61-63, 107-108Ed una lupa, che di tutte brame
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Rev. 17:1
Chapter XVII of the Lectura, in which the damnation of Babylon is considered at length, contains a famous quote of Joachim of da Fiore: the “patres catholici” equated the apocalyptic harlot with Rome and, more precisely, with the multitudes of reprobates who, by their unjust deeds, oppose and blaspheme the Church of the righteous pilgrims on earth. Therefore, this harlot should not be sought in one place only, since the grain of the elect is diffused throughout the entire area of the Roman Empire and the reprobates’ straw is spread along the entire latitude. Olivi adds that the harlot represents the people and the Roman Empire both during the pagan period and the Christian age, during which she abundantly fornicated with the world (Rev. 17, 1).
This passage, which Olivi drew from the Calabrian abbot and on the basis of which we may say the friar believed that “the whole Church is certainly not ‘Babylon’ although she is guilty of serious misdeeds and the hierarchy of which she is formed may not be condemned and set aside without qualms” (R. Manselli), is suggestively and unsuspectedly transformed by Dante. At the end of Paradiso VI (vv. 127-142), wandering Rome of the righteous challenged by the reprobates, is impersonated by Romeo of Villeneuve: “Romeo, persona umìle e peregrina”, was the “giusto” minister of the count of Provence, Raymond Berenger, and “di cui / fu l’ovra grande e bella mal gradita”. To keep to the subject, this is a eulogy paid by “Giustiniano” after he had observed all the work performed in governing the world by virtue of the “sacrosanto segno” of the Eagle. The Provençals, who with “parole biece”, meaning envious and calumny, forced the just man to leave the court are “Babylon”. They represent the Rome of reprobates and wicked pilgrims: “e però mal cammina / qual si fa danno del ben fare altrui”. They have been punished, as so shall be the new Babylon, under the harsh Angevin yoke, after Beatrice, one of the four daughters of Raymond who Romeo gave in marriage to Kings, brought “la gran dota provenzale” to Charles I. When reading the verses, a Spiritual Franciscan would have also noticed the theme of the “margarita” as Justinian defines the second sphere of Mercury. The theme derives from the exegesis of the seventh vision describing heavenly Jerusalem. The city wall has twelve gates, and in the gates twelve angles and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Rev. 21, 12): “on the east, three gates; on the north, three gates; on the south, three gates; and on the west, three gates” (Rev. 21, 13). The materials of which the gates are made is treated further: “And the twelve gates are twelve pearls” (“margarite”, Rev. 21, 21). Moreover, these pearls are small and thus represent evangelic humbleness and poverty. As Justinian says, the sphere of Mercury is a “picciola stella” and “margarita” (Par. VI, 112, 127). Romeo shines in this sphere “persona umìle e peregrina” who had to leave “povero e vetusto” the Provençal court which his work had made grand (ibid. 135, 139). The first cluster of words, hinged on pilgrim Rome of the righteous that had spread throughout the Empire, interweaves with the second, in which the themes of Franciscan poverty and humbleness resound, consonant by contrast with the second sphere that “si correda / d’i buoni spirti che son stati attivi / perché onore e fama li succeda” and therefore long less for true love and are blessed with a lesser merit (ibid. 112-117). Read more (in Italian).
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Homer
In Limbo, the earthly figure of the Empyrean, the term “suspended” describes both the state of those who hopelessly yearn for God in eternity and of those who by contemplating are capable of soaring above the others like an eagle. Homer’s flight above the others (Inf. IV, 94-96) was woven on the exegesis of the fourth trumpet (the fourth period of the history of the Church is, par excellence, that of the contemplatives). A quotation by Joachim of Fiore concerning Gregory the Great, who wrote a great deal about the end of the world and knew better than anyone else how fly through the midst of the allegories “ac si arduas celi vias altius pre ceteris prevolavit” (Rev. 8:13), is applied to the “sire” of the poets. Read more (in Italian).
[LSA, cap. IV, Ap 4, 7-8 (radix IIe visionis)] Dividit (Ioachim) enim viginti quattuor legiones in quattuor partes secundum quattuor animalia, ita ut in leone accipiamus fortes in fide, in vitulo autem robustos in patientia, in homine preditos scientia, in aquila contemplatione suspensos.[LSA, cap. VI, Ap 6, 6 (IIa visio, apertio IIIii sigilli)] (secundum Ioachim) Per ordeum vero designatur (intelligentia) ystorica seu litteralis, que habet tres bilibres propter sex tempora laboriosa et servilia sub servitute legis currentia ab Abraam usque [ad] Iohannem Baptistam, que Mattheus enumerat per tres quaterdenas generationum (cfr. Mt 1, 1-17). Et quia quelibet quaterdena duas habet hebdomadas seu septenas, ideo hic vocantur “tres bilibres ordei”. […] Secunda (intelligentia) vero convenit secundo (animali), scilicet vitulo, quia instar vituli sulcat terram, id est terrena et corporalia gesta patrum, et etiam quia martires per vitulum designati predicaverunt paganis, qui ystoricam litteram legis et prophetarum non noverant, et ideo ante allegoriam oportuit eos doceri ystoriam. […] |
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Inf. II, 52-54Io era tra color che son sospesi,
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Inf. IV, 43-45, 94-96Gran duol mi prese al cor quando lo ’ntesi,
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[LSA, cap. VIII, Ap 8, 13 (IIIa visio, IVa tuba)] Per aquilam designantur hic alti contemplativi quarti temporis, qui prophetico spiritu presenserunt et predixerunt mala que post finem quarti temporis debebant subsequi. Inter quos credit Ioachim per hanc aquilam specialius designari beatum papam Gregorium, qui utique fuit in quarto tempore, prout supra fuit in principio prenotatum. Ipse enim «libere plurima de mundi fine et de pressura seculi scripsisse dinoscitur, quique allegoriarum semitas ac si arduas celi vias altius pre ceteris prevolavit, neque enim invenitur alius similis eius, qui ista erumpnosa tempora appropinquasse in suis operibus testaretur». Hec Ioachim. |
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Aristotle
Limbo (Inf. IV) corresponds to the heavenly see before Christ opened the book sealed with seven seals (Rev. 4:2, 5:4). The opening of the book was wept for, desired and long-awaited by the ancient Fathers – “Item fletus hic quantus fuit in sanctis patribus ante Christum; cum etiam essent in limbo inferni, quanto desiderio suspirabant ut liber vite aperiretur eis et omnibus cultoribus Dei!” -, just as it is even now in the second Christ’s advent in the Spirit (i.e. in the conscience of Christ’s spiritual followers): “Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare, / non avea pianto mai che di sospiri”. As at the opening of the sixth seal the privileged signed army precedes the multitude, the group of five great poets likewise appoint Dante “sesto tra cotanto senno”. Whilst in the sixth period the Gentiles are converted “in spiritu magno et alto” (Rev. 19:1), in the Commedia the “spiriti magni” dwell in the noble castle – that is to say the ancient (before Christianity) and modern (the Mohammedans Avicenna, Averroës and Saladin) just people – in an ongoing Redemption process that looks at a new age of universal palingenesis and conversion which, in Dante’s case, is performed by means of poetry. According to Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans (11:25-26) the conversion of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled in the sixth period, before the conversion of the whole of Israel.
The ancient Fathers and Prophets, designated by the four and twenty ancients around the throne on which sits He who holds in his right hand a book sealed with seven seals (Rev. 4:4, 5:1), were partially enlightened and became part of a providential plan, that is to say, that under the veil of prophesy the book was revealed to them only to the extent to which they were entitled in the times they lived. Dante assigned the task of forerunners in the building of the Church to the “spiriti magni” that live in Limbo “in disio”, especially Aristotle “ ’l maestro di color che sanno” (Inf. IV, 130-135). The figure of the master of human reasoning is weaved with the threads of He who sits on the highest throne, with whom Aristotle shares the themes of highest wisdom, to sit, to be surrounded and honoured by the “famuli” (seniors), amongst whom, almost as if close advisors or attendants, sit Socrates and Plato. The divine qualities borne by Aristotle mean that he is the first custodian of “gubernationes et documenta” who then “per magistrorum consilium descendunt ad nos quasi a pastore uno” (cf. Ecclesiastes, 12:11).
These individuals “di grande autorità ne’ lor sembianti”, like the seniors who had been crowned for their authority “tamquam magne experientie et prudentie et maturi ac providi iudicii et consilii” (who Olivi believed could be “reges seu pontifices”), “parlavan rado, con voci soavi ”. This means they spoke rationally using human arguments: and from the throne (Rev. 4:5) proceeded lightnings, thunders and more modest earthly voices; “Voces enim in terra fiunt, tonitrua vero in celo seu ethere, vocesque sunt modice respectu tonitruorum […] “et voces”, scilicet doctrine rationalis et quasi humane […] “et voces”, id est et suaves ac rationabiles persuasiones et predicationes sunt facte”. Such is the “angelica voce” of Beatrice, who spoke “soave e piana” to Virgil (Inf. II, 56-57), and also that of king Solomon, who in the sphere of the Sun speaks from the “minor cerchio” with “una voce modesta, / forse qual fu da l’angelo a Maria” (Par. XIV, 34-36). Read more (in Italian).
[LSA, cap. IV, Ap 4, 3-4] “Et qui sedebat, similis erat aspectui”, id est aspectibili seu visibili forme, “lapidis iaspidis et sardini” (Ap 4, 3). Lapidi dicitur similis, quia Deus est per naturam firmus et immutabilis et in sua iustitia solidus et stabilis, et firmiter regit et statuit omnia per potentiam infrangibilem proprie virtutis. […]
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Inf. IV, 112-114, 130-135Genti v’eran con occhi tardi e gravi,
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Purg. XXXI, 106-108Noi siam qui ninfe e nel ciel siamo stelle;
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[Ap 4, 5] Voces enim in terra fiunt, tonitrua vero in celo seu ethere, vocesque sunt modice respectu tonitruorum.
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Inf. IV, 25-27Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare,
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Novum saeculum
In the sixth period (status) of the history of the Church (i.e. in the modern times), a spiritual rebirth led to a novum saeculum. Although Olivi was very cautious about using pagan authors, his statement concerning this renovatio and Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue spiritually and even literally correspond perfectly. In this era renewed through the Spirit of Christ, awaited as eagerly as in the Augustan age, an inner revolution is accomplished through words that convert and soften the hearts, which the inner voice whispers to preachers to urge them to speak freely. All the malice of the past falls on the ‘sixth’ period. Whereas, as a man Christ had hitherto taught with His outer voice, and as the Word, through intellectual enlightenment, as the Spirit He thenceforth taught through the pleasure of love (cf. Rev. 2:7). The inner voice replaced the outer doctrine: perfect parts for Beatrice and Virgil respectively, when the latter left the floor to the former in the Garden of Eden.
[LSA, prologus, Notabile VI] Tertia ratio magis litteralis est quia ut quidam finis sollempnis et quoddam sollempne initium novi seculi monstretur esse in sexto statu et plenius in septimo […][LSA, prologus, Notabile VII] […] sicque tertio, reiecta tota vetustate huius seculi, renovaretur et consumaretur seculum per gloriam et in gloria Christi. […]
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Purg. XXII, 67-72Facesti come quei che va di notte,
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Egloga IV, 5-7Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo
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The spirit of prophecy
Whilst discussing Babylon’s king, Isaias also speaks against all similar nations, and Lucifer the prince of devils and pride as if he were king of great Babylon (Is 14, 12-21). Ezechiel, speaking against Tyre, also discusses the nations and the supreme cherub in the midst of the stones of fire (Ez 28, 14-19). Likewise Christ attributes all the evil coming from every generation of reprobates to the especially evil generation of Jewish reprobates in his times, upon which shall fall all the blood shed from Abel the just (Mt 23, 35-36). The author of the Apocalypse who, speaking about the beast that arises from the sea (the Saracen beast, Rev. 13:1-10) and has seven heads (that correspond to the seven status of the Church) equally went on to discuss the mass of reprobates who, from the creation to the end of the world, fight against the Church of elects. Dante also discusses his Florence which he believes a model of universal evil.
[LSA, cap. XIII, Ap 13, 1 (IVa visio, Vum prelium)] Tertio nota quod mos est scripture prophetice, dum de uno speciali agit sub quo spiritus propheticus invenit locum idoneum ad exeundum et dilatandum se, a specialibus ad generalia ascendere et expandi ad illa, iuxta quod Isaias, loquendo de Babilone et eius rege, dilatat se ad loquendum contra totum orbem Babiloni similem et contra Luciferum regem omnium superborum et malorum quasi regem magne Babilonis (cfr. Is 14, 12-21). Sic etiam Ezechiel, loquendo contra Tirum, diffundit se ad totum orbem et ad supremum Cherub de medio lapidum ignitorum, id est sanctorum angelorum, deiectum (Ez 28, 14-19). Sic etiam Christus Matthei XXIII° (Mt 23, 35-36) ascribit omnia mala totius generationis omnium reproborum generationi male Iudeorum sui temporis, tamquam a particulari ascendens ad generale et tamquam universale reducens ad suum particulare, cum ait quod omnis sanguis iustorum impie effusus a sanguine Abel iusti usque ad sanguinem Zacharie veniet super generationem istam. Sic ergo in proposito, occasione bestie sarracenice, dilatatur spiritus propheticus ad totam bestialem catervam omnium reproborum, que ab initio mundi usque ad finem pugnat contra corpus seu ecclesiam electorum et per septem etates seculi habet capita septem; specialiter tamen a Christo usque ad finem mundi per septem ecclesiastica tempora habet septem principalia capita contra septem ecclesie spiritales status et exercitus. |
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Inf. I, 1-2Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
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Purg. XXXIII, 85-90“Perché conoschi”, disse, “quella scuola
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Sicilian Vespers
Perceptive readers would have recognised the earthquake upon the opening of the sixth seal, that moved islands and mountains which were believed to be safe and stable (Rev. 6:12-17; 16:18-20), in the unforeseen Sicilian Vespers revolt, discussed by Charles Martel (Par. VIII, 67-75), or the captivity of the Avignon Papacy represented by the harlot “sicura, quasi rocca in alto monte” who the giant subsequently dragged into the forest (Purg. XXXII, 148-160). Read more (in Italian)
[LSA, cap. VI, Ap 6, 13-14 (apertio VIi sigilli, IIIum initium)] Quantum etiam ad tertium initium sexte apertionis, fiet utique grandis terremotus subvertens fidem plurium contra evangelice regule veritatem et contra spiritum vite eius, et ideo tunc “sol” plenius fiet “niger”, et “luna” crudelis ut “sanguis” tam in electos quam in se invicem per seditiones et bella. Unde suscitationem spiritus preibunt in ecclesia quedam bella subvertentia insulas et montes (cfr. Ap 6, 14), id est urbes et regna. […] propter que omnia plures non solum boni, sed etiam mali fortiter perterrebuntur non solum a visu et perpessione tantorum malorum, sed etiam suspicione et expectatione longe maiorum (cfr. Ap 6, 13). Tunc etiam plures signabuntur ad militiam spiritalem, quamvis sint pauci respectu multitudinis reproborum.[Ap 6, 14-17; IVum initium] Tunc etiam montes, id est regna ecclesie, et “insule”, id est monasteria et magne ecclesie in hoc mundo quasi in solo seu mari site, movebuntur “de locis suis” (Ap 6, 14), id est subvertentur et eorum populi in mortem vel in captivitatem ducentur. Tunc etiam, tam propter illud temporale exterminium quod sibi a Dei iudicio velint nolint sentient supervenisse, quam propter desperatum timorem iudicii eterni eis post mortem superventuri, sic erunt omnes, tam maiores quam medii et minores, horribiliter atoniti et perterriti quod preeligerent montes et saxa repente cadere super eos. Ex ipso etiam timore fugient et abscondent se “in speluncis” et inter saxa montium (cfr. Ap 6, 15-17). Est enim tunc nova Babilon sic iudicanda sicut fuit carnalis Iherusalem, quia Christum non recepit, immo reprobavit et crucifixit. Unde Luche XXII[I]° predicit ei Christus mala consimilia istis, dicens (Lc 23, 28): “Filie Iherusalem, nolite flere super me, sed super vos ipsas flete”, et paulo post (23, 30): “Tunc incipient dicere montibus: Cadite super nos, et collibus: Cooperite nos”. |
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[Ap 6, 12; apertio VIi sigilli, IIum initium] Preterea in initio ordinis Francisci “factus est terremotus” (Ap 6, 12) in pluribus partibus, puta in comitatu tholosano tunc temporis per crucesignatos dissipato, unde et urbs Biterris, in qua fui nutritus, fuit vel tertio vel quarto anno huius ordinis destructa per eosdem. In Italia etiam et in ultramarinis partibus fuerunt ex tunc procellose commotiones et subversiones. Ex tunc etiam Tartari publice subverterunt et ceperunt plurimas terras in oriente et aquilone, ita quod Ungariam, terram christianorum, circa tricesimum annum nostri ordinis intraverunt et fere dissipaverunt.Inf. XXXIII, 79-84:Ahi Pisa, vituperio de le genti
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Par. VIII, 58-78:Quella sinistra riva che si lava
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[LSA, cap. XVI, Ap 16, 20 (radix VIe visionis)] Deinde effectum huius iudicii insinuat quoad duas partes pene eterne. Quarum prima est pena dampni, scilicet privatio omnis boni iocundi, et hanc tangit cum subdit: “Et omnis insula fugit, et omnes montes non sunt inventi” (Ap 16, 20). Sicut in terra nichil firmius et eminentius aut tutius quam montes, sic in mari nichil stabilius et humane quieti aptius quam insule, et ideo per consumptionem seu non inventibilem subversionem vel per translationem omnium montium et insularum, tam hic quam supra sub apertione sexti sigilli (cfr. Ap 6, 14), designatur consumptio vel subversio solidiorum et eminentiorum et immobiliorum statuum et urbium et ecclesiarum et regnorum totius carnalis ecclesie.Purg. XXXII, 148-150, 157-160Sicura, quasi rocca in alto monte,
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“The glory of the tongue”
When reading, in Purgatorio XI, once proud Oderisi da Gubbio’s statement that the honour of the art of miniature (l’alluminar) had passed to Franco Bolognese, Cimabue’s leadership in painting was eclipsed by Giotto and the “glory of tongue” had been transferred from Guido (Guinizzelli) to the other Guido (Cavalcanti) and others too (to he who was “sesto tra cotanto senno”), a Spiritual reader would have remembered the exegesis of the first Church of Asia (Ephesus: Rev. 2:5) and of the sixth (Philadelphia: Rev. 3:11), which had both been threatened that their leadership be transferred should they consider themselves irreplaceable where all the churches are in the hands of Christ alone. This occurred in the translatio of the first church of Jerusalem to Rome, the former being an honoured teacher and enlightener (“per eam illuminati ”), as it shall when the Church passes from the fifth to the sixth status. Read more (in Italian).
[LSA, cap. II, Ap 2, 5 (Ia visio, Ia ecclesia)] Deinde, si non se correxerit, comminatur ei casum totalem dicens (Ap 2, 5): “Sin autem, venio tibi”, id est contra te. Dicit autem “venio”, non ‘veniam’, ut ex imminenti propinquitate sui adventus ipsum fortius terreat. “Et movebo candelabrum tuum de loco suo, nisi penitentiam egeris”, id est evellam a me et a fide mea in quo es fundata, secundum illud Apostoli Ia ad Corinthios III°: “Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere, preter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Ihesus” (1 Cor 3, 11). […]
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[LSA, cap. III, Ap 3, 11 (VIa ecclesia)] Item sicut soli primo comminatus est translationem sue ecclesie de loco suo, sic soli sexto significat quod, si non perseveraverit, eius corona ad alium transferetur. Cuius mistica ratio est quia sicut primus status habuit primatum respectu totius secundi generalis status mundi, qui ab Apostolo vocatur tempus seu ingressus plenitudinis gentium (Rm 11, 25), sic sextus habebit primatum respectu totius tertii generalis status mundi duraturi usque ad finem seculi. Ne ergo de suo primatu superbiant aut insolescant, quasi non possint ipsum perdere aut quasi alius nequeat substitui eis et fieri eque dignus, insinuatur eis predicta translatio. Secunda ratio est quia uterque eorum substitutus est alteri. Nam gloria que fuerat sinagoge parata et pontificibus suis, si in Christum credidissent, translata fuit ad primitivam ecclesiam et ad pastores eius. Sic etiam gloria parata finali ecclesie quinti status transferetur propter eius adulteria ad electos sexti status, unde et in hoc libro vocatur Babilon meretrix circa initium sexti status dampnanda. Notandum tamen quod per hoc verbum docemur numerum electorum ad complendam fabricam civitatis superne sic esse prefixum quod si unus per suam culpam corruat, alterum oportet substitui ne illa fabrica remaneat incompleta.Purg. XI, 79-84, 88, 94-99, 121-123“Oh!”, diss’ io lui, “non se’ tu Oderisi,
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